Mercedes blame wiring loom for Rosberg retirement

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

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Nico Rosberg’s retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix was blamed on a fault with his car’s wiring loom by his Mercedes team.

Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff said “it looks like a loom in the steering column failed and that was the root of his problems”.

“When he came back to the garage I told him we were sorry to have let him down,” Wolff added, “and he handled the whole situation in a very professional way”.

It was the fourth time this year one of the team’s cars has failed to score due to a technical problem, and they have also been compromised by failures during qualifying.

“We have a missile of a car this year but these reliability issues keep tripping us up,” said Wolff. “The parts will be sent back to base tonight for forensic analysis by our reliability group.”

“We have an excellent team dedicated to quality and we will track down this failure and make sure it does not happen again.”

Wolff also praised an “incredible” performance by race winner Lewis Hamilton. “After the Safety Car came in, it needed qualifying laps every time round to build the gap – and he did that faultlessly.”

“These are the days when drivers like Lewis show what makes the difference between star drivers and the superstar drivers. Congratulations to him.”

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Mercedes blame wiring loom for Rosberg retirement”

  1. Well, so at least its now about even in the technical issues score between the teammates. Big shame though, because it really took most of the tension out of the race (saved a bit by the SC later).

    But yeah, if Mercedes happen to lose out, its going to be just as much about not being reliable enough as it is about mistakes made on strategy, managing their drivers and driver mistakes. In that respect, they might be glad Ricciardo has some issues of his own today as well.

    1. Now Nico only has to start twice from way down because of technical issues during qualifying and Hamilton needs to take Rosberg out when he’s in the lead and they will be completely equal.

      Would even solve the problem with double points in Abu Dhabi, because the WDC would be decided before that already.

    2. Even? What about the break failure during qualifying or the engine blow up? Not to mention that Nico’s bold attack in Spa cost Lewis at least 18 points

      1. You don’t get points for Saturday and as far as I remember, Lewis typically made quick work of the field therefore rendering qualy an entirely moot point.

        1. @neiana are you serious?

          So qualy is pointless? Why so much effort for a front row start then?

  2. Sounds like an issue with another item of low cost, similar to that of Lewis’s car in Melbourne. It’s amazing that with all the millions spent on these cars that it’s the small items that keep tripping them up. But it contributes to the fascination with the sport because every small detail needs to be working to get the best performance and it may be one of these small things that decides the championship

    1. Or it might be the desire for low weight. Small wires with minimal insulation. I too appreciate the fine line they tread with build decisions. All the science and art and years of experience in racing car prep….and still cars dnf for little things.

      1. sounds like a pushed pin a connector. I ‘ll bet $0.25.

        1. I think for F1 those are about 50 USD anyhow Johnny!

    2. just cancelled my new Benz order – Hate it when stereo buttons on steering wheel do not work!

    3. Oh they have a “reliability group”… On supply-chain side, as per they website they’re not hiring for business support personnel so they are happy with they’re current team :)

      I feel for Nico and I hope they get their act together because reliability cannot decide this first hybrid F1 season.

    4. @3dom We should be grateful that Mercedes has reliability problems. Just imagine how boring this season would be without any issues. I mean the car is as fast as hell and they could end races with a 2 laps advantage. :)

      1. @nidzovski
        I agree in part that the merc unreliability has mixed it up (Hamilton coming thru the field, Ricciardo victories) but I also can’t help but feel that we may have been robbed of some great close wheel to wheel battles between hamilton & rosberg. We may have had Spain and Bahrain, but like whenever we get something good, I want more :-)

        1. @3dom Same here mate :)

  3. What this part of the “Disciplining Process” by Mercedes Mr Wolff ????

    1. *say in the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger “Do not cross me or you might be the next to have a ‘wiring loomb issue’. “

    2. Next time out Toto is going to make sure Nico’s car have a failing wheel nut, while he’s planning Marcus Ericsson to crash into him at Sochi.

      On top of that, Toto will clog Nico’s toilet and tell his wife that she isn’t looking pretty today!

      Toto is serious business, people.

    3. oops !!!! what = Is ????

      1. Love catching an error in a post 4hours later. I didn’t even notice. I think my brain made it “What is this, part of the……”

    4. I thought that type of discipline was outsourced to Max Mosley…

  4. If Mercedes Benz is that bad taking care of a Formula 1 car, how bad can they be taking care of normal, common cars they are selling? that’s what I’m thinking after the race. If their very best can’t find a failing part in a Formula 1, what are they selling to normal people like you and me? Mercedes Benz is not longer the company its used to be.

    1. In fairness they’re F1 car is made in Britain. I blame the unions.

    2. A modern F1 car has thousands of parts, all being pushed to the extremes of endurance and lightness. It is impossible to guarantee that every single part will function perfectly 100% of the time. To allow one tiny failure to sully your impression of a brand is, quite frankly, pathetic.

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